


an explosive birthday

by amybri2002



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, blood mention, disturbing imagery, remus is sad :(, remus misses janus:((, remus’ birthday fic, the others are mentioned but don’t make an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24911074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: It’s Remus birthday, but everyone else has seemed to have forgotten. He decides to torment Thomas to celebrate.
Relationships: Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 11
Kudos: 135





	an explosive birthday

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday to my favourite trash man!!!!!!!!! i would like to apologise to him for what i just put him through, but i do love him and hope he has a nice day (better than what he got in this fic ahsjsh). yeah, hope y’all enjoy tho <3

Remus stared up at his ceiling, eyes wide open and mind racing. He hadn't seen Janus in a while, not since the wedding. He hadn't been bothering Thomas, either - it was no fun when Thomas just brushed him away, and Thomas had a lot more things to be dealing with right now anyway. The only contact he'd had with anyone else was with Roman, who still wandered in and out of their shared bedroom, sometimes crying and sometimes just looking tired. Since the wedding, Remus had spent the majority of his time staring at the ceiling, occasionally heading into the Imagination to kill some things but mostly just staring at the ceiling, deep in thoughts he wished he didn't have.

He picked up his phone and decided to continue reading that... online novel he'd been reading, not really taking in any of the words or even caring about it but enjoying the feeling of his thumb sliding over the screen, a nice change from his fingernails digging into his skin. Deciding this this was boring, he locked his phone, only to turn it back on a moment later and stare at his lock-screen. A photo of him and Janus, a manic look in Remus' eyes and a bored expression on Janus' face, with a burning building behind them. Remus remembered that - it was for his birthday last year, Janus had taken him into the Imagination for a night of crime and light arson, an activity that Remus always loved.

Huh. He glanced up at the date on his phone, noticing that it was his _birthday_. Damn - had it really been that long since the wedding? Surely...

He sat up in bed, cringing a little at how the sudden movement caused his head to ache. He slowly began to rub his temple, fingernails scratching against his skin a little too hard and possibly drawing blood. Hmm. It was already midday, according to the time on his screen and judging by the sun seeping into his room, and nobody had come to wish him a happy birthday yet. That... wasn't exactly _unusual_ , he supposed, but Janus - and Virgil, before he left - always used to throw him some sort of party, and back when they had a more civil relationship Roman used to at least acknowledge his birthday. Thinking about it, though, he hadn't actually seen Roman in a week or so... 

Well. He hummed, deciding that maybe he should leave his room for today. It was a special occasion, after all, and it had been a while since Remus had eaten anything other than his own hair or his deodorant - he'd actually ran out of deodorant to chew on a couple weeks ago, he needed to steal some more at some point. He doubted that anyone actually remembered or even cared about his birthday - they'd all seemed to have forgotten about his existence, at the very least - but maybe he could have a little fun. Who to bother, though...

Remus clicked his fingers and appearing next to Thomas in the kitchen, draping himself over Thomas' body. "Hey, Thomas!"

"Gah!" Thomas exclaimed, jumping away from Remus and pointing a spoon at him somewhat threateningly.

A grin grew across Remus' face as he leapt up onto the counter, swinging his legs back and forth. "Wouldn't it be fun if the oven just... exploded, right now? Fire everywhere, you blown to pieces, one arm over there, a leg over here-"

"What are you doing here?" Thomas interrupted, his arm shaking.

Remus pulled his legs up onto the counter and sat crosslegged, propping his elbows up on his knees and resting his chin on his hands. "I want to talk to you! Don't you wanna hang out with your dear ol' Duke?" He felt something wet land on his hand, something dribbling down his chin. Blood - that was just a little concerning, he'd made a mental note to investigate the blood dripping out his mouth later. For now, though, he just sucked it back up, eyes lighting up at the look of disgust on Thomas' face.

Logan stepped into the kitchen, took one look at Remus, and sighed. "Remus, would you get off the kitchen counter, it's incredibly unsanitary." 

Remus pouted. "Everyone else sits on the counter and you never complain about them!"

"Yes, but the rest of us _shower_ ," Logan pointed out. 

Thomas moved closer to Logan, hiding behind him. "Logan, help, please." 

Logan sighed again. "Remus, may I inquire why you are bothering Thomas right now?"

"It's my job!" Remus answered. "Do you want me to _not_ do my job?"

"Your job is to make Thomas aware of the more... mature aspects of creativity, not to scare him for the sake of it."

Remus jumped off the counter and stepped towards Logan. He grabbed his tie and pulled him closer, so their faces were only inches apart. "More mature ideas, huh?" He smirked, raising an eyebrow.

A look of pure disgust arose across Thomas' face. "Ew! Gross! Can you- Can you not?"

Logan didn't move from his position or even seem to flinch when one of Remus' tentacles attached itself to Logan's shoulder, but his eyes did quickly dart over to Thomas. "Thomas, why don't you go somewhere else, I'll take care of Remus for now?" 

Thomas eagerly escaped, leaving Remus alone with Logan. Logan looked back towards Remus, staring into his eyes for a solid few minutes, neither saying a word, before Remus just _broke_. Tears starting pouring down Remus' face, and Logan started to look vaguely uncomfortable, stepping back. Remus let go of Logan's tie and stumbled back towards the counter, leaning against it and trying to take some breaths to calm himself down. He didn't even know what was wrong - he wasn't _upset_ , was he? It was very rare that Remus got upset. He _thrived_ off making other people upset, why would he be upset himself?

"Uh, Remus?" Logan asked, stepping towards him again and slowly lifting a hand. "Are you-"

Remus grabbed his wrist in midair before Logan could place a hand on his shoulder. Logan stopped, beginning to look just a little afraid. That just made Remus' insides hurt even more, like all his guts where trying to push out, or like his heart was about to explode. Under any other circumstances, he imagined he would have enjoyed that, or at least enjoyed the looks on the others faces when they saw all his internal organs burst right out of his chest, but in that moment all he wanted was for the feeling to stop so he could maybe torment Logan a little more, let out a little steam. 

Remus let go of Logan's wrist and moved away again, now just looking at Logan with... fear in his eyes, as Logan began to rub the red mark forming on his wrist. Without another word, Remus sank out and reappeared on his bed, crying into his pillow. Today wasn't going the way he planned. 

~*~

It had been a couple hours since his encounter with Remus in the kitchen, and the curiosity still plagued Logan's mind. What had gone on in there? Logan had never seen Remus like that.

It was strange, as well, that Remus suddenly decided to be a nuisance again. He'd been quiet recently, and, thanks to Janus' help, Thomas was in a much better state mentally. Logan couldn't even begin to imagine why Remus would have been so upset, or why he looked... even worse than usual, somehow dirtier and more unkempt than he always was.

It was due to this concern that Logan found himself outside of Janus' bedroom door, a hand hovering over the wood as he tried to find the courage to knock. Logan didn't have a terrible relationship with Janus, he supposed, although he couldn't really say they were the best of friends, either. He'd _certainly_ never gone into Janus' room before, never even considered that he may need to in the future, but here he was, right outside.

Before Logan got chance to knock, the door slowly opened, revealing Janus on the other side. "Logan," he said, sound a little surprised, "come to lecture me, have you?" 

Logan frowned. "What? No." Janus seemed surprised at that, as well. "I... have some concerns that I want to talk to you about. Nothing to do with you or Thomas, I just... you're the only side I can really talk to about this."

Janus hummed, before stepping aside, allowing Logan to enter the room. It looked pretty much like Logan had imagined - walls painted yellow, musical posters hung up, a clothes rack filled with various disguises, and a couple snakes crawling over his desk. Janus went to sit down on his bed and Logan considered sitting down at the desk, but decided against it due to the snakes, one of which was slowly wrapping around the chair, and instead Logan opted to just stand up near the exit.

He breathed in. "Has... Has Remus been acting a little weird recently?"

Janus blinked. "Remus? I..." He glanced down at the floor. "I haven't seen him, actually. Y'know, been a little busy the last week or so working out Thomas' skin care routine."

"Yes, Janus, you're doing a great job on that, by the way."

Janus bowed his head. "Thank you." He looked back up at Logan. "Is there... something wrong with Remus, though? I suppose he has been pretty quiet lately."

"I don't know if there's anything wrong," Logan admitted, "but I spoke with him earlier in the kitchen... sort of. He- He started crying, and he looked a little worse for wear, and it just... got me thinking." 

Janus hummed. He sat there for a while, staring at the floor, before his eyes widened and he rushed back to his desk, carefully removing one of the snakes and looking at his calendar. He swore under his breath.

"What?" Logan asked, stepping to the side to move away from the snake now trying to escape the room. "What is it?"

"It's his birthday today."

~*~

Remus found himself staring at the ceiling again, his foot bouncing up and down. He considered breaking into Janus' room and stealing his wine - even if he did hate the taste, it would at least calm his thoughts down a little. But he couldn't seem to get his body to move. Janus wouldn't want Remus in his bedroom, anyway - there must have been a reason that Janus hadn't spoken to him since the wedding, and... if Janus didn't want to be his friend anymore, than fine, in all honestly Remus didn't blame him. Remus was hard to deal with and not a brilliant friend and honestly caused more harm than good, and he knew that. Remus knew now that Janus hated him, and that was perfectly fine - he just wished he didn't come to that realisation on his _birthday_.

He already knew that the others hated him, anyway. Thomas first reaction to seeing him earlier was just to scream, and then run away as soon as possible. Virgil had hated Remus ever since he left, Patton had always hated Remus, and Roman was... Roman wasn't too bad, although Remus couldn't remember the last time the two of them had a real conversation that didn't just end in insults back and forth. He supposed that Logan earlier hadn't seemed to hate him entirely, although it was obvious that Remus was making him uncomfortable, which meant it was likely that Logan didn't like him either.

He heard his bedroom door open, but didn't tear his eyes away from the spot on the ceiling. It was probably just Roman, back for another few days of sulking - that seemed to be his routine recently, a week or so with the others and then a few days of crying on his bed. Remus didn't really have it in him to care, Roman could do whatever he wanted with his life. 

What Remus wasn't expecting was for Roman to scoop him up in his arms and hold him tight. Remus stiffened at the sudden human contact, not entirely sure how to respond - even back when he was still friends with Janus and Virgil, they'd never hug him like this. But... 

"Happy birthday, Remus," a voice whispered into his ear. That wasn't Roman. That was... 

"Janus?" Remus let out. Janus pulled away from the hug, much to Remus' disappointment. "What are you..."

"I'm sorry it took me so long to remember," Janus said. "And... And that I haven't really been there for you recently. Are you- Are you okay?"

Remus was silent for a long time. He glanced around the room, noticing that Logan had come with Janus, but didn't seem to know what to do now that he was here. Janus still stared at Remus expectantly. Finally, Remus whispered, "No."

Janus pulled him into a hug again, this time refusing to let go. Remus awkwardly hugged back at first, before sinking into his, resting his head on Janus' shoulder. He breathed in and out, trying to ignore how shaky his breath was. He was... okay. Janus was still here, Janus didn't _hate_ him, did he? 

Eventually, Janus had to pull away, but still kept his hands on Remus' shoulders. "How about we go blow some stuff up?" Janus suggested. "Remember last year when we set all those building on fire-"

Remus snorted. "Yeah. That was fun."

Janus smiled at him. "We could go do that again to celebrate, if you want."

Remus breathed out, and smiled. "That'd be nice."


End file.
